by News Desk

HANOI (Viet Nam News/ANN) - The number of locally-made cybersecurity products increased last year, said the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on Friday.

The MIC said there were 52 Vietnamese cybersecurity products in 2019. This was double the number in 2018 and triple that in 2017.

The MIC said it granted new licences to 38 cybersecurity firms, bringing the total number of licenced firms to 84 in 2019, an increase of 82.6 per cent from two years ago.

Nguyen Huy Dung, director of MIC's Department of Information Security, said Vietnamese firms could master the technology and were able to meet more than 60 per cent of local market demand.

However, he pointed out that there were still few cybersecurity products in Vietnam, where foreign products account for more than 80 per cent of market share.

A representative from MIC said local cybersecurity firms had not paid enough attention to connecting with each other to create an ecosystem for their products.

Recently, MIC has created a package of mechanisms, policies and technical standards to develop local products, especially products that serve e-government systems, smart cities and important national information systems.

The package is designed to help develop good local products to ensure cybersecurity in Vietnam by year-end. It will also help local firms cover more than 75 per cent of domestic demand and export their tech to countries around the region.

At the end of last year, an alliance with members from 21 firms including Viettel, VNPT and BKAV, among others, was formed to connect local cybersecurity firms and develop high-quality products to form a “Made in Vietnam” ecosystem.

A representative of the Department of Information Security under the MIC said: “Developing Viet Nam's ecosystem and mastering technology are building a shield to protect national cyberspace. Vietnam cannot rely on foreign products to protect its own cybersecurity.”